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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2011)
The INDEPENDENT, March 3, 2011 Where to Find Them U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (Dem) 1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 585 Portland OR 97232 Phone: 503-326-7525 223 Dirksen Senate Ofc. Bldg. Washington, D.C. 20510-0001 Phone: 202-224-5244 E-Mail: http://wyden.senate.gov/ contact Website: http://wyden.senate. gov U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (Dem.) One World Trade Center 121 SW Salmon St., Suite 1250 Portland, OR 97204 Phone: 503-326-3386 107 Russell Senate Ofc. Bldg. Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-3753 E-Mail: http://merkley.senate. gov/contact WebSite: http://merkley.senate. gov U.S. Representative David Wu (Dem) OR District 1 620 SW Main, Suite 606 Portland, OR 97205 Phone: 503-326-2901 2338 Rayburn House Ofc. Bldg. Washington, DC 20515 Phone: 202-225-0855 Website: http://house.gov/wu Senator Betsy Johnson (Dem) Senate District 16 PO Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056 Phone: 503-543-4046 900 Court St. NE, S-314 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-986-1716 E-mail: sen.betsyjohnson@ state.or.us Website: http//www.leg.state.or. us/johnson Representative Brad Witt (Dem) House District. 31 21740 Lindberg Road, Clatskanie, OR 97016 Phone: 503-728-4664 900 Court St. NE, H-373 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-986-1431 E-mail: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us Website: http//www.leg.state.or. us/witt Representative Deborah Boone (Dem) House District 32 PO Box 926 Cannon Beach, OR 97110 Phone: 503-717-9182 900 Court St. NE, H-375 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-986-1432 E-mail: rep.deborahboone@ state.or.us Website: http//www.leg.state.or. us/boone Page 3 Letters Staff members urge retaining Bill Haack To the Editor: Dear Mayor and Council Members: We are aware of the three options before you re- garding the position of City Ad- ministrator. We, as staff, would like to voice our opinion on the matter. We would encourage you all to consider what is cur- rently on the plate of the City and if bringing in someone new …who will have to spend months getting familiar with everything…is the best choice for the City and the community. We feel that expending mon- ey and time on searching for someone that may not exist is not the responsible thing to do. What guarantee do we have that someone else would do a better job? How could this per- son possibly get acclimated to the huge job of managing this City’s current list of projects without losing a lot of time in the process? We have been through too many administrators over the past few years and things just aren’t moving forward. This needs to stop. Every time a change is made, we have to start over. We currently have a very competent leader who has been involved with the projects either directly or indirectly for the past three years. He has many contacts that a new per- son won’t have. He also has the respect of the staff and a good working relationship with all of us. He also has the re- spect of many in the communi- ty. With his help, things are fi- nally starting to move in a posi- tive direction. Staff is asking that you choose the option to retain Bill Haack as City Admin- istrator. Thank you, Angie Handegard Carole Connell Mike Conner Shawn Carnahan Ginger Westlake Jeff Burch Marjorie Lowrance Joann Glass Wants government to stop spending To the Editor: Over the last two years, our federal government has lav- ished borrowed bailout money on selected parts of the private sector to a degree not previous- ly imaginable and enacted two massive spending bills, called stimulus packages, which suc- ceeded only in stimulating the size and growth of government. At $14 trillion, our federal gov- ernment now owes more than our entire nation produces in wealth in an entire year. The United States was once the freest and strongest engine of economic growth in the histo- ry of the world. It is now crip- pled by an enormous national debt which, as a percentage of the economy, is rivaled only by the size of the debt we took on to win World War II. Unlike World War II, however, this debt appears to have no end in sight. Yet our elected represen- tatives are once again planning to raise the debt ceiling without a convincing plan to stop the out-of-control spending. We stand on the verge of be- coming the first generation of Americans not to pay our own debts, but instead to leave to our children the most massive debt in the history of our nation. They deserve better. We must do better, now. I am asking our elected rep- resentatives to find in their hearts and minds the integrity and the discipline to stop this nonsense. Cut federal spend- ing and reduce the deficit with- out raising taxes and stifling our fragile economic recovery. Leave our children a future which they can afford, and a legacy in which we can all take pride. Robert Speirs Columbia City Haack should be our city administrator To the Editor: We are writing this letter to express our concern over deci- sions being made by the newly elected city council. We have attended most of the city council meetings for the last six years. The most impor- tant city business at this time is the hiring of a permanent City Administrator (CA). It appears that our new city council is set to hire someone new. We think they should re- examine their position on this very important decision. The council has spent a consider- able amount of council time on this, when we already have a very qualified and very dedicat- ed City Administrator. We have worked extensively with current CA Bill Haack and think he would be the very best CA for our city. Bill has good working knowledge of the city and has many programs work- ing right now. If we look else- where and spend more money to find someone new, we will have to begin all over again. Our city has had seven CAs in the last seven years and is fixing to do it again to make it eight. There is no reason to believe that another new CA can do any better than the last seven we have had. If it were a guar- antee, we might be able to go for it, but unfortunately there are no guarantees on this. Working with the Airport Committee, Bill Haack has been outstanding and very will- ing to work for the better of the city, and the Airport Committee. We highly recommend that as our elected representatives of the City of Vernonia that you do the right thing on this and hire current Pro Tem City Ad- ministrator Bill Haack. Michael Seager Georgeanna Seager Policy on Letters The INDEPENDENT will not publish letters with per- sonal attacks on private citi- zens. Preference will be giv- en to brief letters, 300 words or less. All letters must be signed and include a verifiable ad- dress or phone number. Salem Scene By Representative Brad Witt Oregon District 31 I’d like to take some time this week to review a mechanism that is unique to Oregon and has grown more contro- versial since its inception in 1979. It’s called the “kicker” and it is a device that was placed in the Oregon Constitution when the state’s economy was in a growth spurt in 1979. The increase in tax revenue caused some to insist that any time actual tax receipts exceed the state economist’s projections by 2%, the entire amount should be “kicked back” to the taxpayers. Some critics say that the kicker con- tributes to a roller-coaster budget, while others maintain that it’s our money and we should get it back if the state collects too much of it. So, what’s the answer…? First of all, it’s important to understand how the kicker works. At the end of each legislative session, state economists make an educated guess about how much money the state will re- ceive from individual and corporate taxpayers over the following two years. The economists try to shoot for the mid-point and, over time, their es- timate of the trend is pretty close. But the econo- my moves in cycles and when we are above the trend, the kicker goes off and excess revenue is returned rather than put aside. When we are be- low the trend, the Legislature has to eliminate services due to reduced revenues. With over 90% of our state’s budget dedicated to educa- tion, social services and public safety, these are the areas that get hammered. They also tend to be the areas that Oregonians hold most dear. The other issue is timing: Kicker checks are returned at the end of the biennium, which could be when the cycle is turning down and revenue is falling. This happened in 2001 and again in 2007. It may happen again this go round. Cur- rently, corporate income tax revenue is just $6.9 million below the threshold that will trigger re- funds to businesses. As a result, we may end up sending money back to businesses at the same time that we are forced to cut things like the school year, in-home care for senior citizens and police patrols. Please see page 20